Serine protease activities in Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi promastigotes.
Summary of "Serine protease activities in Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi promastigotes."
The present work reports the isolation, biochemical characterization, and subcellular location of serine proteases from aqueous, detergent soluble, and culture supernatant of Leishmania chagasi promastigote extracts, respectively, LCSII, LCSI, and LCSIII. The active enzyme molecular masses of LCSII were about 105, 66, and 60 kDa; of LCSI, 60 and 58 kDa; and of LCSIII, approximately 76 and 68 kDa. Optimal pH for the enzymes was 7.0 for LCSI and LCSIII and 8.5 for LCSII, and the optimal temperature for all enzymes was 37 degrees C, using alpha-N-rho-tosyl-
L:
-arginine methyl ester as substrate. Assay of thermal stability indicated that LCSIII is the more stable enzyme. Hemoglobin, bovine serum albumin, and ovalbumin were hydrolyzed by LCSII and LCSI but not by LCSIII. Inhibition studies suggested that enzymes belong to the serine protease class modulated by divalent cations. Rabbit antiserum against 56-kDa serine protease of Leishmania amazonensis identified proteins in all extracts of L. chagasi. Furthermore, immunocytochemistry demonstrated that serine proteases are located in flagellar pocket region and cytoplasmic vesicles of L. chagasi promastigotes. These findings indicate that L. chagasi serine proteases differ from L. amazonensis proteases and all known flagellate proteases, but display some similarities with serine proteases from other Leishmania species, suggesting a conservation of this enzymatic activity in the genus.
Affiliation
Laboratório de Bioquímica de Proteínas e Peptídeos, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, rlopez@far.fiocruz.br.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Parasitology research
ISSN: 1432-1955
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20668879
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1983-y
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Leishmania
A genus of flagellate protozoa comprising several species that are pathogenic for humans. Organisms of this genus have an amastigote and a promastigote stage in their life cycles. As a result of enzymatic studies this single genus has been divided into two subgenera: Leishmania leishmania and Leishmania viannia. Species within the Leishmania leishmania subgenus include: L. aethiopica, L. arabica, L. donovani, L. enrietti, L. gerbilli, L. hertigi, L. infantum, L. major, L. mexicana, and L. tropica. The following species are those that compose the Leishmania viannia subgenus: L. braziliensis, L. guyanensis, L. lainsoni, L. naiffi, and L. shawi.
Leishmania Enriettii
A parasitic hemoflagellate of the subgenus Leishmania leishmania that has been found as a natural infection of the Brazilian guinea pig. Its host-tissue relationship is, in general, comparable to that of L. braziliensis.
Leishmania Major
A parasitic hemoflagellate of the subgenus Leishmania leishmania that infects man and animals and causes cutaneous leishmaniasis (LEISHMANIASIS, CUTANEOUS) of the Old World. Transmission is by Phlebotomus sandflies.
Leishmania Donovani
A parasitic hemoflagellate of the subgenus Leishmania leishmania that infects man and animals and causes visceral leishmaniasis (LEISHMANIASIS, VISCERAL). The sandfly genera Phlebotomus and Lutzomyia are the vectors.
Leishmania Tropica
A parasitic hemoflagellate of the subgenus Leishmania leishmania that infects man and rodents. This taxonomic complex includes species which cause a disease called Oriental sore which is a form of cutaneous leishmaniasis (LEISHMANIASIS, CUTANEOUS) of the Old World.
PubMed Articles
We have previously demonstrated that yangambin, a lignan obtained from Ocotea duckei Vattimo (Lauraceae), shows antileishmanial activity against promastigote forms of Leishmania chagasi and Leishmania...
Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role as a leishmanicidal agent in murine macrophages. NO resistant Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been associated with poor outcomes of their...
Leishmaniasis and Chagas' disease constitute a relevant health and socio-economic problem in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The therapeutic interventions rely on inefficient and highly toxic drugs w...
GC-MS analysis and antileishmanial activities of two Turkish propolis types.
Propolis is a honeybee product with a very complex chemical composition and various pharmacological properties. This study was aimed to investigate antileishmanial activities of "Bursa" and "Hatay" pr...
Upon their recruitment to a site of infection and their subsequent activation, neutrophils release DNA and a subset of their granule content to form filamentous structures, known as neutrophil extrace...
Clinical Trials
The purpose of this study is to determine how the body defends itself against Leishmania (Viannia), a parasite that can cause a skin infection and skin sores. Certain cells in the immune s...
Safety, False-Positive Reactions and Sensitizing Properties of Leishmania Tropica Skin Test Antigen
The efficacy of LtSTA as a skin test antigen depends upon the sensitivity and specificity of the product. This study has been designed to determine if a 15, 30, or 50µg dose shows non-spe...
Serine Proteases in Gastrointestinal Function and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
The proposed pilot project for this seed grant focuses on the role of intestinal serine-proteases in the pathogenesis of diarrhea-predominant IBS (D-IBS). In this study we will further ass...
This study will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the Leish-111f + MPL-SE vaccine in adult subjects who have no evidence of previous exposure to the Leishmania parasite.
Immunogenetics of Visceral Leishmaniasis
Visceral leishmaniasis is a potentially fatal disease caused in South America by the protozoan Leishmania chagasi. In neighborhoods with high exposure rates, the outcome of human infectio...
